Boss ME-50

Bueno como esta indicado en sus caracteristicas es una de las pedaleras mas faciles de editar, ya que es practicamente un peque?o rack de pedales individuales, con perillas y todo.
El manual cumple con su funcion. Lo unico malo aqui, es tener que comprar dos footswitches por separado(cambio de bancos,seteos en tiempo real), los cuales me costaron cada uno $19US.Por ello le doy un 9

Uso una Jackson Dinky Reverse con un Bill Lawrence XL-500 en el puente y un Rocktron rt-80. No causa el menor ruido, si el cable y el seteo estan bien, al principio tenia cables de audio de dudosa calidad, pero consegui unos Monster y el problema se arreglo, no se recomienda usar pickups activos ya que si se les pone a maximo volumen producen un acople terrible con algunos seteos.

Las distorsiones como siempre nunca seran muy buenas en las pedaleras,pero cumple su funcion. Los efectos de retardo(delay,etc)suenan perfectamente como los pedales individuales e igualmente el chorus, el wah pues al igual que las distorsiones cumple su funcion, en algunos seteos se vuelve algo chillon. Y el pitch de +1 -1 octave funciona muy bien.

Esta muy bien construida, completamente de metal. Nunca la he dejado caer pero creo que aguantaria algunos golpes.
Obviamente que sea de metal no significa que no se pueda raspar, por ello le he mandado a hacer un estuche.

Hasta ahora no he tenido que contactar a la compa?ia por algun problema

Toco desde Smashing Pumpkins hasta Kreator, pasando por Maiden, Priest y Pantera, y no he tenido para sacar un sonido parecido al de estas bandas. En general la pedalera es la mejor y mas economica opcion si no quieres complicarte la vida y sonar bien.

It's easy to set each effect and editing patches. Each effect type has got it's own knobs so there's not problem at all.

In some reviews I read some absurd things. If you have a cheap guitar and small amp it's obvious that you are not going to get a perfect sound like with a $5000 equipment. And a multieffect will not change it, can help improving your sound but it can't make miracles.

I play through a Gibson LP Studio => ME-50 => JCM900 usually

I've been`playing for 6-7 years and making some gigs with my bands. I play Hardcore mainly and any other style and it sounds great. Just need time and luck sometimes to get the sound you are looking for. I use DS-1 overdrive with some noise gate and it sound very good for playing any style of HC,Punk or metal (my opinion).

I'm not a tone freak but for me almost all effects sound good (delay, chorus, flanger, wah, octaver...)

The only bad thing is that there's some silence while you change from one patch to another (irritating at the begining)

Two years and a half and no problems

For me and my equipment this unit sounds great, so I have all effects I need at a reasonable price. It won't make miracles but with good gear can get great sounds. The bad thing is the silence in patch changing.

the controls are all really easy to make sense of and use, even if like me you know little about guitar effects. Basically its lots of pedals made compact, so you just take each one seperately. you can hear the sound you're creating, as you're creating it so if you don't like something you can just set it back.
if you want to change a patch you just hit the edit button and change & listen at the same time.
come on do we really need a manual for such an easy to use pedal?? well you get one any way..just tells you not to throw it at walls etc..one thing though; it does have all the patch listings in there if you want to recreate them. oh, and it tells you how to reset all the stuff back.

for a good sound, keep it simple. i mean the equipment you use with it. you can run pedals before it but it should have all the effects you need. keep the amp on a real clean sound before hand, you can adjust that after bringing in all the effects.
at the moment i use a fender tele. straight in the boss and to the amp.
so far i have no complaints of hissing or fuzz or anything, if there is then you have the controls to do something about it.
i find it sounds a lot 'happier' if the boss master volume is about half way, so the amp is just adjusted accordingly. plus you know if you need to go louder you've got plenty left.!
there are so many possibilities, you could play any kind of music with this.

if you want an acoustic sound however...
just use an acoustic guitar. no effect in the world can reproduce it, the boss has the best go though.

hasn't broke yet. just over a year now.
it's solid and you could probably drop it, don't though.
i originally had a boss ds2 and that never broke so, in my opinion boss products are the toughest.

i always take a backup but then i'm just cautious.

tip..buy the adapter, batteries; you need loads and they run out.
get it at the same time and they may knock cash off.

i started out about 3 years ago with a ds2 and an ibanez. a few mates and i got a band going, just doing covers of blink and alkaline trio and stuff. at the start of 2004 we all went different ways then i started doing stuff of my own. being 19 then i had not much ### so i started looking at multi effects to broaden my ability. i wanted a wah and a volume pedal and a flanger and a delay and a floor tuner and to buy these all seperate (like my ds2) would cost shed loads so i had a play on an me50 in a shop and bought it there and then. its everything i needed at the time and probably for a while yet, value for # definately.
i got a 5 year warranty with it so if it breaks it'll get sorted by roland.

one thing i wish boss would do or if any one knows... some kind of site with shared patch listings so artists can exchange sounds. it might be on here somewhere, i havn't looked yet.

buy this if: you want loads of effects at a good price, in the same box that's unbreakable and that sounds amazing.

This unit is rather simple producing quality sounds. Just set the knobs and go....Editing patches I have found takes some practice, but you get the hang of it. I am a guy, I don't look at manuels.

I really like the sound quality. You get a good strong chorus, only when you turn it on full, which I believe is how it should operate. Other effects are novelties and I am able to have fun with it. The distortions, in my opinion, work great; although I am not finding the right tone with the TubeScreamer. The Rat is perfect and I have compared the DS-1 with the original and it sounds identical. The key for me is a good tube overdrive, I use Tube Works. I didn't think that I would appreciate the Guvner at first, but now it is a staple. Also I use an Aphex Exciter which really compliments the sound. I am not crazy about Metal Zone, but it is good to have. Digitial Delay is not as in your face as the original analogue, but I think it's good, whereas too much in your face is not desireable.

This unit could probably survive a terrorist attack. This may not be the absolute perfect answer to analog, but I feel it is about 98.5% there. With a row of stomp boxes, you will lose tone, whereas although you don't lose tone with this, you might sacrifice some overall punctuated clarity. The sacrifice pales in comparison to the benefit by about 10 steps foreward and one step back.

Haven't needed customer support...if I did I am either insecure, bored, or don't know what I am doing. You guys are idiots who do.

To reiterate from other reviews, power supply and additional foot switches are a major issue, and totaling the cost of these alomst puts you into the next price range, but the reason I bought this box is for it's simplicity. I like to replicate Gary Moore, Angus and Jimmy Page. I've played over 24 years, semi-professionaly at least once. I have a vintage guitar collection, to include Tele Deluxe and Hamer Special. I like to experiement with some of the throw back effects, like Muff and Univibe. I don't really understand the negative reviews, only that these people don't have quality equipment to produce the right sounds. I do wish that the distortion sounds had a detailed manuel explaining each one in detail, and which artists replicate the same sound for classic songs..but I guess that is a copywrite issue.

Simple to use it is effectively one large stomp box.

If you only use the effects on clean sounds its ok, that is the modulation effects are ok. The delay is a bit harsh on clean/distorted tones and the units distortion tones just cannot compete with a good tube amp. Not even when used to accentuate your amps overdrive sound.
My advice would be to get a tube amp, eq pedal, ditortion pedal and whack it straight into the amp (turn volume up to 7 or there abouts so it breaks uop nicely) - on doing so you'd never consider a multi-effects unit again. The problem is we all fork out for a tube amp and guitar and then want an f/x fix but this is not it.

Its a Boss product so it will last and after sales are normally good.
My unit is going so cannot give a rating.

boss in the past have been good to me so no doubt they will to people who get on with this unit. In the past I have found them helpful.

It's a lot of f/x for the money and an all in one box 'quick fix', if you are serious about guitar and tone I advise investing your money elsewhere. Once you experience the sound of a tube amp everything else pales into insignificance. Forget this unit, get an EQ pedal (the new Boss twin pedal graphic is good), an overdrive/distortion unit (Tubescreamer) and whack it through your amp; the terms chorus/delay etc won't feature in your vocabulary for some time! And the sound will remind you of what's really important...tone, not messing it up with this cheap box of tricks. (Use a power attenuator as well on your amp). think tone, think EQ/distortion, not ME50 type units.

Very easy to use. That's the main reason for buying it.

However, there is a drop in the sound, like half of a second, when changing patches. This makes the unit very unusable. You have to get used to it. However, it seems to be something easy to fix...if Boss wants to keep customers against Vox or Line 6.

Use it in front of the amp. In the loop effects sounds worst.

Quite good. It's true that sucks tone when on, but in my case, it sucks exactly the frecuencies I don't like!!!! For me, whith my particular amp (Mesa Boogie Subway Reverb Rocket) and cabinet (2x12 Vintage 30s), it's not a problem.

Compressor: Lack of attack control, but very usable and good sounding. I use it almost all the time.

Reverb, very digital, but sometimes useful. My EH Holy Grail is much better, almost perfect.

ODs and distortions, the same. However, it has so many different sound options, that I have always founded the distortion I was looking for. Not a super-tone, like the lead channel of my amp, but it's ok.

Modulation: good tremolo, good vibrato, and sometimes, good rotary speaker simulation. Choruses are just ok, and flangers&phasers are quite bad.

Delays: quite good. A lot of options. Good for experimenting.

Wah-wah: subtle but good sounding. Easy to use. Very good sound when combined with compressor.

Never had a problem with a Boss product. It's very well built.

Good value for the money. Not very good for live use because of the delay time when changing patches, but ok for rehearshals, experimening arranges, and as a backup.

In my case, I would prefer the VOX Tonelab SE, but only had money for the Boss ME 50.

Easy to use and simple, intuitive interface. Customising the patches are a breeze. Using preset patches or simply using the bypass mode to kick in effects are both easy.

I'm surprise the majority of reviewers were happy with the sound quality!! I thought it SUCKED ! I tried everything, going direct to amp, via effects loop and each time it either (1) Increased hiss/noise to an unacceptable level or (2) Sucked my tone. I'm using a Marshall JCM2000 stack and no matter what I did, this unit did not deliver the goods. Tweaking output levels, loop levels, etc did not help either in case you're wondering if it was me that was the problem.

The sounds dropout when you switch patches too and it's enough to notice if you were using it live.

My verdict...save you're hard earned money and buy something decent instead.

It worked reliably..it just sounds crap.

Never used them,,,

If you are using clean sounds only then perhaps this could be useful. The distorion sounds whilst versatile don't sound natural, they sound harsh and manufactured. It doesn't hold a candle to the (Marhsall) valve distortion.

Given the flaws in sound dropout on switching patches and the overall sound quality I would NOT use this for live performances!

I've been playing for over 20 years and love the Boss stomp boxes but (somehow!) they really dropped the ball on this one. I'm selling mine on ebay and going back to basics...a digital delay, a morley-way and a EQ pedal.

Save your money people!

I bought this thing partly because it looks so easy to use,and guess what...it is!I spent a few hours trying out different settings and had little or no problem getting it to do what I wanted.When you fist get you might want to put it on a chair or table to program it,the stooping over routine gets old fast.I was spoiled rotten using a Line6 AX2.I upgraded to a tube amp(mesa boogie f-50)to get out of the"modeling mud".Maybe some of you know what I mean.Anyway,thats why I got this thing,as a"do it all 4 cheap"solution to my sudden lack of effects situation.

I'm using a Mesa-Boogie F-50 through 2 2x12 cabs @4ohms apiece.My main guitar is a 1982 les paul custom,and man does it love this amp!As with all tube amps there is a slight hiss,and this unit makes it worse.Its not intolerable though,and for live and/or practice it wont really be a factor.I actually didn't think the distortion sounds were all that bad,although alot of them are just not my cup of tea(i.e death metal type shit)the classic pedal sounds are ok and the "natural"setting is useful as a type of volume boost for cleaner leads.The modulation pedal has some very nice settings;chorus sounds good and you can do some neat stuff with the tremolo.The delay I did not care for,and no matter what I did I could not get it to sound good.It reminded me of an old boss digital reverb pedal that I couldn't stand!It breaks up!what a f--ing letdown.As for the reverb,it's awful-same shit,it breaks up.Sounds cheap and harsh.I dont understand how boss could drop the ball here and ruin an otherwise decent product.I also dont know what they were thinking when they designed the wah pedal.It doubles as a volume pedal so when you lift it up to push the button down your sound drops out!Talk about a momentum killer.Back to the drawing board guys.

Ive used boss pedals before and never had them break.As far as this one goes,Im taking it back and Im going to try a rack unit in the effects loop.Less noise,better quality.

I play heavy rock/jam rock with some mellower stuff thown in so I get to use my clean channel once in a while!Im 39 and have been playing in various bands since I was 20.I have 2 pauls,a mex strat with B.Lawrence pups,a frankenstien jaguar,and a Takamine.Honestly,I could forgive the lame pedal design,but the cheesy delay......what were they thinking?Its going back to the store,and next we try rack delay/effects processor.This thing is good for kids to play around with,but Im just too old and picky.Exuse me now,I have to go watch"Matlock".

I am an older player, I have a Strat with a Fender amp. I was looking for some effects with a tuner built in to use on stage. This box has all the effects and a tuner and looked and felt great in the store.
I took it home and found it REALLY easy to use. If you need to change a sound, bend down and turn a knob. I even was able to save a sound I wanted without reading the manual.
Speaking of the manual, I do not know what the knock is on Roland manuals. I found the manual to be very well written, to the point, and I was able to find what I wanted.

Great sound, the presets needed a little editing for me, but I was able to get the sounds I wanted out of it. I liked the harmonist, the manual gave me the settings I needed. The tremolo is very much like my Fender tremolo, and the wah on the pedal even made me break out some Crybaby licks I have not played for ages. The pedal sounds are great for different distortions, for the different types of music I play.

The reason I bought was that Boss had a great reputation for quality, and this thing is built! It is a metal case and the knobs are thick and substantial. I can't afford two, so it would definately be the number one on a gig because it is the only one! I did buy an extra AC adapter for it, an extra $20 for that, I wish it would come with one, I had to buy two to have a backup.

Everything is right there, I do need anything else as far as support goes. I am sure that if there is something the guy in the store can't answer, he can call Roland and find it out for me. That's why I paid HIM the money.

I play classic rock with a bunch of guys, been playing for longer that I would care to mention. If it was stolen I might buy the GT-8, I really liked that piece, couldn't justify the extra right now. This ME50 seemed to be the best in the store, looked great, felt great, built well, and it's made by Boss so they should be able to back it up, they have been making stuff long enough... I liked the fact that you do not have to dig through a bunch of menus to tweak your sound on stage, just reach down and turn a knob, that is why I picked it over the other multi effects on the market.

Built like a stompbox. Knobs are stright forward. Nothing confusing about the pedal after a bit of practice. Easy to save your patches to memory.

I use an american standard tele and a traynor 2 channel all tube amp. If I just have the guitar straight to the amp, I get wonderful tube clean and dirty sound. Pop the pedal into the effects loop and it sounds like crap. You shoudlnt' use this thing in the effects loop. Plugged from my guitar to the pedal to the amp is much better. However, the pedal does suck alot of tone from my guitar so when all the effects are off, I lose alot of tone.

Tone Modify: I found most of the "EQ" modes quite useless. The acoustic modeling sounds decent.

Compression: Adds alot of noise. But does help with the sustain.

Noise Suppressor: eleminates noise, but also eliminates some of the guitar's frequencies.

Reverb: I really like the room and hall reverb.

OD/DS: Most of it sounds quite harsh and stale. Nothing like real tube overdrive I guess. The Tubescreamer is not bad, but the real thing is much better. Alot of the patches add alot of noise.

MOD: Tremolo is not bad. Chorus is alright (one of the chorus effects sound stale). Phaser doesn't sound good at all.

Delay: I'm not a fan of digital delay. The analog and echo delay simutations were not too bad. But nothing like true analog delay

Expressions pedal: Not bad. But the wah doesn't have to much range.

Overall, its a good pedal compared to other multi-effects. But obviously, it won't beat individual dedicated pedals.

Built to last. Metal frame. Has yet to fail me. I had this thing for almost 2 years.

Never bothered contacting them

Definately on the high end for a Multi effects pedal. But its definately on the high end in terms of quality. Individual pedals would sound much better, but its gonna cost you more as well. You get what you pay for.

I bought the ME50 in preference to more expensive units, because I already have a great amp and didn't need pre-amp changes, just stompbox effects. Editing and writing is dead easy and I have storeda load of patches but use it mostly in manual mode. The instruction boklet could be followed by a five year old, and is comprehensive enough. You do however really need the two fs5u fotswitches (and the pcs 31 cnnection lead) for live use - otherwise adjustments on the fly are harder to make. Easy to enhance your tone, and the chorus (ST1), blues driver, compression, noise supressor and wah are all beautiful classics in their own right.

I'm using this at the font end of a VOX AD60VTH with a 2x12 neodog cabinet. I found using it in the effects loop - especially with wah - does interfere with signal calibration in the context of effects built into the amp. I'm playing a Fender standard Telecaster and Ibanez Artist. The ME50 gives great tone enhancement, is not really noisy on any settings, and between that and the amp I've got the versatility to store patches matching the sound of just about anyone, oldies or modern players - and I mean exact matches, so close your eyes and the tone is the same. I do however prefer the Hendrix/Zeppelin/Cream/Mountain era, and the effects I mentioned earlier are great for that. For what it is the sound quality is excellent.

This is a solid reliable unit. I do gig it without a backup and, yes, beer has been all over it. It only gave up once when it got a full pint (the drummer - who needs drummers!!), but two days on the windowsill in the sun seems to have rectified whatever damage was done, because it's been fine since then, and that was over twenty gigs ago. I've played units with faster switching, but having said that this switches fast enough for my needs, and certainly as fast as anything my playing style requires. For recording it's fine, but you do have to watch the unit master level and it does need varying dependent on the patch you create and what effects are in it. Even figuring out by trial and eror though, this thing's so uncomplicated that it's not hard to get what you want.

Needed Boss once (for other stuff, not the ME50), and whilst the company themselves were not great I've always found that Boss dealers are well stocked and serviced by the company, and the dealers themselves (that I have dealt with) have always been spot on, so the company gets it right by making sure the face-to-face blkes in your local guitar shop are well supported and therefore know what they are on about.

I play blues, old-style rock (60's and 70's stuff mostly), some jazz (I'm talking reinhardt gypsy jazz here - which I do accoustically so there is no call for the ME 50) and if called for I do the Eddie Van Halen and also more modern crunch/shred/tap stuff (we're well known locally, and whenever I play I get the "Do the Hendrix/Van Halen/Satriani" thing).
I love the chorus, blues driver, noise supressor, compressor, wah and analogue delay, which is exactly the efects combination I bought it for. I reckon I saved loads by getting them al in one unit. I've been playing for twenty five years and had loads of equipment - and this is the best effects box I've had. I love it - I've got everything I like/need in one go and my signal is not degraded through a stack of separate pedals: believe me, I know what I'm talking about.

Very easy.

I bought it only for the mods, not the distortions. I have never come across a good distortion sound from an effects unit. Don't think I never will. I use this through the effects loop of my 5150. The mods are ok for live use, and the delays are suprisingly good. Nothing great, but better than what I thought they'd be. And that's what use most, the delay.
It's not for professionals, the price alone will tell you that! For the price it's pretty ok. I got it 'cause I can't afford a better one at the moment. When you switch between the memory patches, there is an audible pause. And YOU SHOULD BE ABLE to switch patches with your foot, not having to bend over and poke the thing with your hands! (hello?!!) That at least could have been made possible by Boss without too much expences!!!

I've only had it for a moth or so. But I'm not too worried. I've owned and own a lot of other Boss products.

All though it isn't of the quality professionals would find useable, you get some decent delays and mods, and memory banks for a reasonable price.
If you don't have too much extra cash, go for it!

This unit is very easy to pull sounds from. You do not have to read the manual to navigate, even though the manual is helpful.

Editing is simple and writing them to patches is just as simple - (coming from a Boss ME-10 user)

Boss has one of the easiest abd best-researched user interfaces of any FX units.

Guitars/Amps: I am using Clapton Strats with red lace humbuckers in the bridge and a Fender Blues Jnr Valve Combo amp.

Noise is not a problem unless you mix compression with higher gains from the distortion/overdrive section. The noise supressor is too nasty at its highest setting (kills sustain and has poor release characteristics), so be sure not to use it past 70%.

The overdrives and distortions are the best thing about this unit. They model pedals and not amps (COSM), which I prefer as I'm using a nice little valve amp anyway. My favourite are the overdrives and they can easily be coaxed into getting a "record quality" smooth rhythm sound like those found on 70's and 80's classic albums.

Any idiot can pull realistic stack sounds from this unit.

Modulations are good although I a bigger fan of the harmoniser being set to "detune", which makes for a really good "Andy Summers/Police" vibe.

The delays don't sounds as good as the ME-10 or even the DD-3 pedal for that matter. I usually go any find the 394ms delay for the Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell" and program that one in for the occasional jam!

The reverb control doesn't give you a lot of accuracy in setting but I found the room reverbs were the most useful and easiest to fine tune. The sound quality was OK and comparable to my ME-10 but not quite as good as I've heard from dare I say it.. Behringer units.

As usual, Roland have made these units with no compromises on build quality.

This unit could be used at one of my gigs without a backup although after my ME-10 died after 10 years service, I will keep a Roland Micro Cube around for a backup - don't laugh.. those little things are suprisingly good.

Roland Australia are expensive for repair work and even then, don't reply to your emails very quickly. I gave them a chance to impress me and they failed.

When this thing finally dies, I'll just buy the next model Boss puts out.

I play in duos and cover bands and need to pull sounds that closely match those heard on records. I have been able to do this very well over the last 10yrs using Roland/Boss gear.

If stolen or lost, I would buy exactly the same unit or an equivalent upgrade.

I did extensive comparisons with similat products from Korg, Zoom and Digitech. The Boss unit sounded better in the end and I mainly used the overdrive sounds to compare them.

I wish this unit has an assignable expression pedal instead of it's pre-set one i.e. to change rate of phaser/univibe or key of harmoniser. The GT-6 is the best option up from this unit but I have complexed editing.

This unit will get you going fast and with the minimum of understanding. It's a true plug-and-play device.

This has been the easiest multi-effects i've ever came across, i mean - it's all there in front of you! i'm not a manual reading type of guy but its there if i'm stuck(which i have been on occasion.

i use a marshall 100dfx with a shitty squier strat(believe it or not i've been saving for a new one for near 3 years and each time i get close i lose my job and drink the money, i'm trying for an ibanez jem555 - steve vai custom) but it does the job. the clean effects are great, i can get any tone, delay and all are brill features. the distortion settings are what one might say, crap. i can't explain it but it's like i need more gain and bass but at the same time i need less of it. i can achieve tones of the might Vai and Satriani, i can get Maiden too, just generally old rock as well. but thrash! Megadeth and the likes, no way! i can get the distortion right but there's always this tinny sound and what i can only describe as a clinking sound from it and so far i've spent endless hours tring to get the tone and giving up. the wah pedal could do with better features. i will give this a 9 for everything but the distortion settings but it brings the overall to 6

for the effects, yes. for the distortion, no. the power supply has so far lasted for me with no problems.

wouldn't even bother trying - they're full of crap

my style of music is varied so i need a varied tone, one that i can alter and perfect for my own needs. this little unit has it all, but the distortion brings it down. i've been playing four years now and this needs to give me all it can but somehow it doesn't fit with me. and i'm so close to gettin the jem555 but my contract expires in two weeks and thats me out of a job again( i might sell my body for sex or something i dunno). if it were lost or stolen i would get a Line 6 Pod XT Live, that baby looks sweet and i've heard great reviews, i still need to test it out myself though.

Im keeping this short and sweet to highlight one MAJOR point to consider about using the ME-50.

Simple to use!

Good range of effects that all sound pretty good, im no pro but i can reproduce the tone of nearly any song that ive heard.

Can you depend on it on stage????

WELL, if you are in preset mode and change from one pedal to another, the sound completely drops out for about a quater of a second. SO the preset options are only useful for home practise and not performance, i have a piece of paper with the songs im doing and have to adjust the effects etc as i go on.

Its fine when you are in manual mode tho there are no breaks in sound as you turn effects on / off

You dont need the preset mode tho really and could just tweak the effects between songs, just such a shame they have completely destroyed one of the most worthwhile features of multieffect processor.

The Boss ME-50 is so user friendly and easy to use, compared to the rest of the over-rated processors/pedals out there. You don't have to worry about algorithms or complex settings, or having over 100 presets. I think the other pedals with the amp/cab sims, are over-rated and stupid (I tried & owned almost all of them). Just remember, it's not a magical box full exact professional guitarists sounds. I went with the ME-50 becuase I was tired of chasing all my individual padels around the stage. It's compact and rugged, and dosen't have stupid effects that are for kids to make them sound like their good. The only gripes I have are: lack of individual EQ adjustments, separate sinlge reverb types & short reverb adjustments, and separate POWER SUPPLY(dumb idea there). Lighted knobs (like the Behringer V-amps) would be nice, so you can see where the knobs are set for presets.

I use a custom vintage SRV Strat copy and a custom Satriani copy, through a Crate GX130C. I set my amp's clean EQ at: low to 5, mid to 5, high to 3, with the bright switch on. I play a wide varity of styles (not covers) from, SRV, Clapton, Vai, Eric Johnson, Malmsteen, B.B. King, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Metallica, to Satriani. I'm able to achieve almost the same sounds with ME-50. I especially like the acoustic simulator (the best I used so far), to get that natural full body sound. My findings for the closest SRV sound (my blues style sound) is to use the natural overdrive with the drive knob set before turbo(3:00), and for a clean sound set the drive knob a 1/4 turn(9:00), with the tone knob set to tight.

This unit is pretty durable, and with general stage use, should never fail. I'm not one of those hard rockers who trashes the sh*t out my gear. Although I've kicked it off the stage once(by accident), and it was fine. I reccomend using it only with solid state amps. Tube amps are too fussy when it comes to using processor/pedal boards, and never sound right.

They need to sell it with a POWER SUPPLY.

If you want something simple and easy to use, get the Boss ME-50. I have many individule Boss pedals for years, and never had one take a sh*t yet, except for the stupid wires shorting out on the expensive power supplies. I tried all the others, Zoom, Behringer, Digitech, and POD. They all left me confused and fustrated with their extensive algorithms, settings and mudded up amp/cab simulators. The best way to sound good on stage, is to keep your effects simple. That's what Boss did with the ME-50, and I wouldn't use anything else. It's not a magic box, but it's damn close.

Very intuitive. Manual is helpful, and has a lot of info.

Using a Steinberger Spirit, a Mexicaster, and an all-original 70 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe ( My Sweet Baby ). All high-Gain settings are rightfully noisy, as expected, but noise gate works well. Effects are all good, and can be tweaked to ridiculous levels. The "Spring" reverb has that perfect "Walk Don't Run" boing. Using it in front of a Mesa Boogie F-30 ( All tube 30 watt 12" combo). Harmonizer is terrific: Dial in the song key and it does the rest.

However, this box falls short in the overdrive parameters. I was hoping for the kind of "COSM" overdrive / distortion / Amp modeling that I LOVE from my little Roland Micro-Cube Combo amp, but, no such luck.

I returned the ME-50 because ALL of the overdrive / distortion / Pedal / settings sound rough, harsh and ragged to me. That's OK if all you want is rough, harsh and ragged, but I could not find a smooth overdriven tone I liked with any of my 3 guitars, and endless hours of EQ and gain tweaking. Same when using direct to recording. I also tried it with a friends' 1966 Bandmaster and his home-built twin-12 60 watter: Same thing. My Paul sounds so rich and creamy when using real over-driven amps, but sounds just buzzy and trashy with the ME-50. Also, it destroys the tonal and dynamic quality of the particular guitar: You can only hear that is a single-coil or humbucker, or a hot-rod, but the "wood" quality is lost. With this box, my Les Paul sounds a lot like my cheap-ass Steinberger toy guitar.

Experience with other Boss products: Boss = Good

I like the effects, hate the overdrive, hate the loss of the guitar's voice. Going to try a Vox Tone Lab next.

It's pretty easy to get a good sound out of it, although it takes a while to completely understand it.
editing patches is very easy and straight forward, and most of all it is very handy
the manual was good
I don't know the firmware revision number, whatever that might be

I have the Joe Perry 'the boneyard' epiphone edition, I have an 30 watts Ario ProII amp.
It's only noisy on distortion and the level of volume seems to go up a lot when using phaser or flanger, or any of the mods.
the effect usually sounds pretty good.
an Aria ProII, 30 watts.
No, I can get the sound of my favourite artists, they are Jimmy Plant, Jimmy Hendrix, John Frusciante and Tom Morello.
The hold Delay is very good, all the mods are good and most of the distortions are good, although sometimes they sounds very muffles (but that might be my amplifyer)
I think that all the effects sound too digitalized, that's why I'm not giving it a 9.

I can certainly depend on it, I've had it for more than a year now and I haven't had any problems with (touch wood).
I DO use it on gigs.

I haven't dealt with the company, yet.
I want to upgrade it, but I haven't done that yet.

I play anything ranging from funk to classic Rock and Roll. yeah it's a good combo. I've been playing for two and a half years, I have three guitars and two amps a bottleneck and this Boss ME-50.
What I love about the Boss ME-50 is that you can do almost everything with it, with I don't like it the way it is set up with the wah-wah combined with the distortion, if you want to get a nice vintage sound from a combo like distortion and wah you need to have the distortion come before the wah, not after as it is in the boss ME-50. My Favourite feature is the octaver.
I did compare this to the Line 6 POD, but it's hard to compare those two. I dunno why I choose this one.
I wish I had the footswith for banking and reverb, compressor ect.
It helps me very much making music, I couldn't do without it!
yeah, This is a great machine but the wah needs to come after the distortion not before!!!! otherwise you get a fake kind of sound!

this units ease of use is what shines.All patches are easily adjusted via all knobs. Its real simple. I never had a manual as i bought secondhand. Im giving nine cause the led disp could give more info, esp when youre in patch mode as you cant really tell which patch is which.
editing is easy, getting the sound you want is another matter.........

my setup is: hondo V deluxe (gibson copy)- me50-fender'85 and custom sound Cub 60. Also have vintage axxe warp blacker than black,and various pedals-korgax1500g, zoom707,505, boss mt2,ge7etc. i usually run my V or vintage through the me50 then to the two amps as it shouldnt really need any other pedals to complement it(that is if it did what its supposed to?).
This is one noisy piece of crap esp when it comes to hard palm muting etc. So many distortions and all are no good to me. Ds1 is prob the only one I will use. Mt1 really is fucked up, it should give a good death tone but the treble is way over the top. It will do a metallica sound but its very wanting. The marshall guvnor should be way better. The mt2 is ok but still thin sounding. Loud dist. is good for soloing and the rest is fairly lacklustre. Good for toned down stuff. the fender amp is tube whilt the custom sound is solid state and ive tried every conceivable setup with these amps, through effects loops (nasty& muffled), to using a ge7 to clean it up or give extra boost. The tone section with enhance and single coil is shite. A real equaliser section is badly needed in this unit, come on ,just bass and tone and gain+ that, is just not good enough. acoustic sim is good and does sound like a semi acoustic.
The mods are disapointig as well. Three chorus's? The variables on all the modulations are too small, I mean you can have it simple but the sound is REALLY SUFFERING. As with the pedal wah, - Just up and down, you cant change anything about the wah or assign the pedal to turn dis on or off. I do like the actual pedal itself- it has a lovely natural and controlable sweep. But this thing lacks, never used it live, sold it after 9 mths of unwanted torture.Bad shit.

yes you can. rely on it to do what it does. No gig. no way.

The home page is completly sales orientated. I needed a download for the manual to see if i was missing something, they never replied. F* ing useless.

I play alot of different stuff, from death to floyd to hendrix to traditional Irish music crossover, funk etc.The me-50 just doesnt cut it. Ive been playing 8 years and have tried many other gfx units like korg, zoom, digitech.Its gone, thank god. I hated how it just coulnt give me one DEEP cutting distortion.It gets in the way of making music as it dissapoints again and again for soun, no end of tweaking changes anything not even 9 whole months. Crap with a crapital c.

Everythings there at your fingertips, you CAN make adjustments during the gig. Here's a tip for those wishing to change sounds without the
drop out - Press the edit button. So say for example you want to use delay in only part of the song then you select your delay patch, press
edit - you'll notice that the delay pedal lights up, you can now switch the delay on and off with no "Delay" if you see want I mean. This of course means that you do have to bend down and press Edit at the start and end of the song but so what? The expression pedal can be adjusted so it is switched on with varying amounts of force, but it IS a bit unresponsive at times when switching it ON/OFF. Doesn't let you select more than one modulation effect at once but haven't been in a situation where I need that (Yet!)

I use a LP studio and Laney LC50II amp.

Distortion:
Don't use the distortion on the ME50 - doesn't sound good at volume - No punch or definition, the amp sounds much better. Only bought the pedal for the effects anyway

Modulation:
Excellent range of modulation effects. I use the chorus, phaser and flanger for regular live use and these compare favourably to compact units. An unexpected addition is the Harmonist which allows you to set up the key and the intervals for the song- it also doubles as an Octave unit. You have 3 parameters to adjust which gives you enough flexibility.

Delay.
Again, an excellent range of delay effects although I haven't really found a use for most of them yet. Can't say it's the best delay I have ever heard but it does the job

Pedal.
I use the Whammy(down an octave) and the Wah-Wah. The wah does seem to have a very narrow range but I've learned to work with it and no it doesn't sound as good a cry-baby.The Whammy has a few milliseconds latency(delay)when it's engaged but again you learn to work with it.

Tone Modify.
I only use the Fat setting bring out harmonics easier when needed. The others are much of a muchness.

Others:
Don't use em.

Overall.
The Modulation effects are a 10, the delay and the pedal an 8, I would give the distortion a 6 but I don't use em.

Well, here are the facts

You DONT need to pay $20 for the BOSS power supply - I learned the hard way. I bought the power supplier because the salesperson told me it would not work with another. Had a year of trouble free operation - 1/2 gigs a week - got bashed about and then a funny thing happened, the display flashed up with a 'b' ALL the time. I sent an email to roland support and they advised me there was a fault with the unit so I put batteries in the unit - It worked fine - The problem was the power supply, so just out of interest I tried one of my old universal adaptors - worked fine - BOSS/ROLAND you are full of shit. Other than the power supply - had no problems whatsoever in over a years heavy use.

Like I said. Shit.

I need a Tuner, Phaser, Flanger, Whammy, Wah-Wah, Chorus and Delay - I got all of those for $200, without all the wires, power leads. I can access them all conveniently (unlike stomp boxes) I have maintained the integrity of my single (unlike stomp boxes) and I also have access to effect I haven't even explored yet.

On the minus side I doesn't sound as good as stomp boxes, but hey, you shouldn't be concentrating on using effects anyway. Just every now and then, and nobody's going to notice live.

The BOSS ME-50 is great value for money, extremely reliable, sounds good, is easy to operate and will give you peace of mind to concentrate on your actual playing.

Pretty good sound out of the box, but I rarely like presets. Any time I couldn't work out how to do something, I'd go to the manual and then say "..of course!". Updating a preset and saving it to a different place requires a number of button pushes, but they all make sense. It realy is as simple as working a stompbox, and if you can't figure that out well......

I also have the Boss switching pedal. This only moves up the banks, you need another and a special cable to go down. This could be better. 2 pedals take up space. Surely this could have been made easier. The whole point of having banks of presets is so that you can move from one to another easily.

I use the ME50 on am pedal board. I like the ability to add trem or phaser etc if I feel like it without having to preplan a patch. Its after a Vox wah, and Boss tuner and before MXRphase 90, Boss trem, Digi X flanger.
Having said that I also have a number of presets next to each other when I know that I am going to move sounds within a number.
I might not be the norm as I play this mainly with acoustic, and into an acoustic amp. (Seagull Artist Classic, and Crate 125D amp). Sounds great! No hiss, no noise, sound guy never has a problem.
Don't use the delay much as I have reverb on the amp. Great having a lot of choice in distortions, but I think you have to have bionic ears to hear the difference between some of them. They sure do sound like the originals tho'. I use the Vox Wah as I felt the ME50 wah was a little thin. The only thing I miss is to have an auto-wah setting in the modulation options

Use it weekly - never a problem. Like the man said - it's a Boss!

Never had the need to contact them. As someone said earlier, a users group would be nice

I use it in a church praise band, doing every style from swing to R&B ro flat ahead rock (yes, church music has come a long way, folks!) It lets me hold my own in a 13 piece band (when all the brass show). I've been playing for 35 years and have played many styles, and many pedals/multi-effects. I think I've finally found the set up I like (until next month...). The ME 50 stays tho'

I've now used it for about a year.

It's easy to use.

Minor gripes:

You only get a quarter turn to adjust each reverb. Not quite enough.

The tuner jumps around. I prefer the TU-15, but this does work.

Standing up, it's easy to step too hard on the volume pedal and suddenly be playing wah wah.

The fixed EQ settings are nowhere near as useful as, say, a 5 band graphic.

It would be great if it had enough gain to drive a power amp. But I don't think it does.

Godin multiac nylon, mostly. I use stereo chorus #2 and feed two amps. Also a little reverb. Sounds heavenly.

I've used the compressor for a couple of tunes. It works fine. Wah wah too.

I haven't found the delays useful. I don't like any of the distortion settings. I don't use them.

The unit looks rock solid.

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT ...

the power supply is very flimsy.

I would strongly recommend a backup power supply.

Never needed them.

The main advantage, to me, of this unit is that you can tweak the settings on the fly. It's programmable, but I don't use any programs. I rarely play the sort of set where I would need to. Instead, I set it the way I want it and, if I'm not happy, I reach down and turn a knob. The alternative would be reaching down and scrolling through submenus. This is better.

The volume pedal, silent tuner, stereo chorus,reverb and master volume are what I love.

There's nothing to hate, but there are things I wish it had, like real EQ, a tuner that doesn't jump around, and an option to output a line level signal. I wish the power supply was a plain box with socket for a separate cord -- so that when the cord inevitably breaks I can buy a new cord, not a new power supply (which I just did).

If it was stolen, I'd probably get a Roland VG-88, but, the fact is, I like this unit very much.

As pronounced in the ad, it`s very easy to use.Editing patches is a little confusing. Once you press the edit-button almost all lights are flashing and you have to try, which effect is on or not. Adjusting the parameters is funny,too, because if you turn into the wrong direction, nothing changes. But that`s just a matter of getting used to it.I lost the manual and I haven`t missed it since!

I use the ME with a Line6 Variax i.e. both the acoustic and electric side.My amp is a Roland AC 60, which I use as a monitor for its enormous possibilities (d.i. out and so forth)I`m very happy with the modulation sounds (Chorus, Flanger etc,)the delay is superb, too.The wah - effect is like my Cry Baby, but without noise.All in all I should say very tasty. The distortion section I rarely use, because for my `rock set-up`I have a Peavey Classic, where I don`t need any further distortion at all.
The only thing that annoys me is: You can edit the patches and store them,o.k. but, if you like to play the patch e.g. without echo, you have to change the whole patch resulting in an interruption of sound for the moment you switch.A possibility to play any patch in the "manual" mode would come in very handy.
My GT5 offers this possibility and it makes stage work much easier!
To come to a conclusion: If you are looking for a pedal that helps you get rid of your stomp-boxes, you`re welcome. If you want to improve your sound the classic way (a little chorus, a little delay etc.) this is the right choice. I`m not sure if any of the people who are addicted to effects because they can`t play properly would be satisfied with this.Anyway, you c a n get this thing so distorted that you hardly need to touch the strings.Never mind. I quite like it.
My advice: If the unit sounds too harsh you should try the Phones-output and connect it to your amp. The built-in amp-simulator cuts of the disturbing high frequencies.

It`s a boss, isn`t it!!! Very rugged construction.

Having used Roland/ Boss equipment for years, I never had to ask them for advice or help, so I can`t tell. But there`s on thing, if you need the owner`s manual you can load it down from their home-page free of charge! This is something you won`t find often these days.

I use the ME mainly for pop, country,oldies etc. I even play my acoustic through it (Try that!!!).If it were stolen I`d buy the new Line6 multieffects - pedal, because it was made for the Variax etc.I compared the ME 50 to many other products, but they were all virtual-amp stuff and believe me or not, they all sound alike. If you have a good amplifier (Peavey classic for instance)this pedal is an additive it doesn`t control the whole sound. This was one of the reasons I chose it. The others were the ruggedness (metal) and the ease of use.I like to turn knobs and switch switches rather than scrolling through endless menues and lines of numbers!

Good sound is relative, if you know what you're doing (you are getting digital replicas of sounds) you will be quite satisfied. If you compare it to the real thing, you will be less impressed.
Depending on what you want to do, it is as easy to use as individual stomp boxes. I mean as long as you can get through with three effects - one overdrive, one mod, one delay, you're set. Once you want to change -say from Chorus to Flanger - during a gig, you're in trouble. Editing patches is easy. Push edit, turn the knobs push edit again. The manual is short but has all the info.

I use this mostly for practice at home over the headphones, you can also plug in an aux and play along with your favourite CD. I use it live for small club gigs, plugging the line out directly in the pa and a small stage amp. I'm always bitching about it on gigs, because it just isn't made for it. You either have to bow down constantly to switch from sound to sound in each section or you use patches. But there is a brief sound intermission when you switch patches and I can never seem to get the master volume right on the patches. Although I reprogrammed, they always seem louder.
The O.D. section is okay, basically the fun is that you can play around with 20+ pedal types. Sound is okay.
The Mod section also offers a broad range. Quality differs. Flanger is the worst, always gets very loud and has enormous bass when I turn it on. Un gig able.
Delay section is perfect. It's digital and should be.
The Tone mod section has the funny Acoustic Simulator which turns some guitars into ovations. The Tone mod does n o t h i n g with a Les Paul signal, a lot with a Strat. The Comp is okay and the NS works well, and you can switch it off, a feature many multieffects don't have.
Neat reverb section.
Great tuner and a solid vol / expression pedal.
Now hold on for the b a d n e w s: This pedal can not handle high output pickups. If you plan to play overwound humbuckers or lace sensors (I have not tried texas specials) you can not turn them all the way up. This pedal will get into digi distortion and you know this is bad to the bone.

It is dependable, but one poti in the mod section already scratches. My OD-1, owned for 20 years, shows none of that wear. I always use the PSA AC-adaptor so I can't say anything about battery life.

Never delt with them.

This is a great and versatile and quite rugged piece for beginners and home-headphone rockers. Brings you all the effects for relatively little money.
Gigging with it is difficult if you want a certain range of effects handy.
The sound is nowhere near pro, but I have played it thru different amps, you'll get the best result with an all tube amp because it smoozes some of the digi feel away. The point is: Why plug this between a good guitar and a good amp? But then again: If you want the real thing you have to invest 1.500,-- plus in stomp boxes etc. It's not Pete Cornish in a little box, but it is a good value for the money.
Lost or stolen? I'd get a headphone amp.
I chose it becaause it has n o automatic noise gate like all the toneworks etc.
What this thing really lacks is an EQ section.

anybody who is familiar with any other boss pedal will figure this one out in no time. knobs everywhere, i can change settings while playing (no shoes).

first of all, the effects aren't as 'pure' as a pile of stomp boxes, but who has room for that many stomp boxes?

the distortion patches are great, broad range of sounds and tones. however i often find myself simply using the 2nd channel of my amp cause nothing sounds like tubes like real tubes.
the modulation patches are good, nothing to write home about though. they do what they do, very useful when playing different styles.
the only delay i use is tap, and it works. the other ones i haven't found a use for besides just screwing around for fun.

no backup needed for this tank.

the main reason for buying this pedal was to add a large range of effects without having to go out and spend tons on individual pedals. it doesn't do my most used effects (i have other distortions, a phase pedal, and reverb), but if need be it could no problem. i would definitly say any beginner would love this pedal, for the money it is amazing. bottom line, i like it.